The film itself starts with a very promising premise and the trailer will certainly entertain the notion that the film will be rather funny.However you are quickly pushed into the sense that the people making the film would be better suited for making a quick twenty to thirty minute skit than a movie. Disjointed low brow jokes that may be funny to children fell flat repeatedly.This is one of the few films that I did not watch fully as I could not force myself to sit through the terrible attempt at trying to be Monty Python and failing miserably. Do not trust the good reviews the film is terrible, save your money.

Talking to a friend about what her kids had recently become interested in,she mentioned that along with the Goosebumps books that they had recently been watching the BBC series Horrible Histories a lot.Taking a look round a local DVD shop a few days later,I was happily surprised to discover that the Horrible Histories team had made a movie!,which led to me getting ready to meet Bill.The plot:Sacked by his band Mortal Coil, William 'Bill' Shakespeare starts to think about what job he can now do.Since he has written a play over the last few years, Shakespeare decides to go against the wishes of his wife Anne Hathaway and leave Stratford-upon-Avon to make his name as a playwright in London.As Shakespeare gets advice on entering the stage world from Christopher Marlowe and gets offered funding from Juan, Earl of Croydon, King Phillip II of Spain starts making plans to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I.View on the film:Following Shakespeare round London in a great tracking shot which breaths in the muck covering London,director Richard Bracewell and cinematographer Laurie Rose cast an enchanting atmosphere,by giving the title a sweet quirky appearance,where all of the historical figures look like they have one foot in a fantasy world. Splinting by its 90 minute running time,the superb screenplay by Laurence Rickard & Ben Willbond release the Barb's sonnet at lightning speed.Joyfully playing around with historical facts, (a ghost Christopher Marlowe!) Rickard and Willbond thread witty wordplay with cheerfully silly visual puns and catchy songs.Whilst the jokes bounce across the screen,the writers keep the footlights lit with a slick plot which links Shakespeare plays with masters of disguise and assassination attempts.Leaping to the big screen,the ensemble cast each give superb performances.Each taking on multiple roles,the cast give each part a unique quality,from Simon Farnaby making the Earl of Croydon desperate to be a socialite,to Mathew Baynton making "Bill" (who is pals with "Chris" Christopher Marlowe!) a wide-eyed fool,as Bill discovers the horrible histories.

After reading the recent review taking people who rated this film highly to task, I decided to go back and rephrase my own post. I also knocked my rating down to 7, which I hate to do because I'm a hardcore fan of the Yonderlanders*, but I also don't want to disappoint people who come to Bill expecting Monty Python and the Holy Grail and are horribly disappointed. No, the Yonderlanders aren't Monty Python. Having a comedic style evolved from performing together in a BBC educational children's show rather than from Oxbridge revues, and being young enough to be the Pythons' grandkids, their style of humor is more millennial: more sharply focused and socially responsible. This film is probably not the best introduction to the art of the Yonderlanders. It's much slower and more structured than their TV work. Horrible Histories is a slam-bang Sesame Street-style variety show, and Yonderland reminds me of nothing so much as an updated version of the classic Harvey Kurtzman era Mad Comics, packed with so many gags you need to study them with a magnifying glass to catch them all. I think established fans of the Yonderlanders' work will like this and "get" it in a way newcomers probably won't. *my term for the core group of performer-writers in large part responsible for the brilliant first five seasons of the live action Horrible Histories franchise, who later branched out on their own with the phenomenal comedy series Yonderland and feature film Bill: Matt Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond.

The Horrible histories series is not only very educational but also good fun. However what works in a half hour TV show is a huge struggle to work in a feature film. Whilst there are some good gags in the script, a lot of them fall very flat too and in this respect I couldn't help but compare it being like a PG rated the 'League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse' from about a decade ago. The cast try hard but apart from Damian Lewis (who seems very comfortable in a classic Errol Flynn type role) the rest of the cast do sometimes overact, mugging at the camera slightly too much for my liking. It's a shame but not a surprise because the film cannot seem to decide if it is an extended episode or going for a Blackadder style take on history and the script reflects this, as it is neither one nor the other.Like I said, there are a few good laughs for kids and adults alike but it could have done with a few more as well. The idea of the story, of Shakespeare's pre-fame career, is a novel one and could have been a Monty Python style film for kids but somehow this effort feels a bit flat despite the best efforts of the cast. In this respect some of the blame must go on the script which sometimes lacks in places. Maybe youngsters will like it, fart gags and all, and it does make good use of its locations and period detail but it was not memorable which is a shame. However I hope the Horrible Histories team do get the chance to make another better film as this is isn't a disaster, more of a near miss.